


Mr Brown and Other Animals

by lordjohnmarbury



Category: The West Wing
Genre: Gen, Humor
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-04
Updated: 2015-08-04
Packaged: 2018-04-13 00:40:36
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 630
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4501164
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lordjohnmarbury/pseuds/lordjohnmarbury
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>CJ visits Josh at his apartment while he's recovering from being shot. She soon discovers that he has an amusing secret...</p>
<p>(Takes place during The Midterms)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Mr Brown and Other Animals

“Hey there, mi amour,” CJ called as she poked her head around Josh’s bedroom door. This was the first lunchtime she’d been free- and able to get around Donna’s Rules- to come and visit Josh since he’d been released from hospital two days earlier.  
“CJ!” Josh cried happily, throwing down his copy of Physics Today. He was lying on the hospital bed that had been moved into his apartment, and CJ was pleased to see that he had more color to his cheeks than the last time she had seen him.  
“I bought you a present,” she said, throwing a parcel into his lap before setting herself down on the end of the bed. Josh ripped off the paper to reveal a pair of pajamas.  
“Gee, thanks, Aunt CJ!” Josh grinned. “This will definitely come in useful for the approximately 20 hours a day I’m spending in bed.”  
“I figured that you might want to wear something other than that 20 year old college sweatshirt you seem to insist on wearing.” CJ smiled back.

*

They chatted for a while about work- infringing Rule Number 4, but CJ figured that what Donna didn’t know wouldn’t hurt anyone- and CJ found her eyes wandering around the room.  
“Hey, who’s this little fella?” CJ asked, reaching out for a stuffed animal sitting on Josh’s bedside table. Inspecting it, she saw that it was a very old looking basset hound. It had lost all of its fur, and nearly all of its stuffing, but its beady black eyes remained and its mournful face stared up at CJ reproachfully.  
Josh looked rather embarrassed. “Oh my mom just brought him down when she came to visit, he isn’t—“  
“It’s ok to admit it, Josh,” CJ smirked. “You’re a 40 year old man who still sleeps with his teddy, there’s nothing to be ashamed about that.”  
“I don’t—I didn’t—“ Josh spluttered. “He’s just a toy that I had when I was a kid, and he’s the only one that survived the fire so…”  
CJ knew that the fire was a sensitive subject for Josh- he’d hardly ever spoken about it to her or any of the others in the West Wing- so quickly tried to lighten the mood.  
“You know, it’s cool if you want to have a stuffed animal, but always make sure that you hide him if you’re getting any action. When I was in college I had this bear called Mr Brown that I hid whenever my boyfriend came round to my dorm room. Once I forgot to hide him and I spent the entire night knowing that Mr Brown was sitting there watching us have sex and whenever I looked up he would be sitting there absolutely just judging me.”  
Josh laughed so hard that CJ was worried that he was going to pull his stitches out. Between grimaces of pain and fits of giggles, Josh choked out, “Mr Brown? What kind of name is that for a bear? What, did you name him after your Geography teacher or something?”  
“I was 5 when I got him and I liked his brown fur. Why, what’s this guy called?” She held up the basset hound.  
Josh sobered up at once. “Uh… he doesn’t have a name…”  
CJ raised her eyebrows. “You honestly expect me to believe that? And you were just laughing at Mr Brown, is his name honestly worse than that?”  
“Ok,” Josh lowered his voice. “But you must swear never to tell anyone at work, or I will find Mr Brown and cut off all his legs.”  
“Fine. What’s his name?”

*

“You guys!” CJ crowed as the others arrived at Josh’s apartment that evening, waving around Toby the basset hound by a paw. “Guess who Josh named his stuffed dog after?”


End file.
